MOVIE REVIEW: 'After the Storm' asks big questions

Friday

Apr 7, 2017 at 6:00 AM

Director Hirokazu Kore-eda is obsessed with something profound – like why it is life never turns out like we planned.

By Al Alexander/For The Patriot Ledger

How terrible that humanity is wasted on humans. They mean well, but so many of their choices end in hurt and disappointment for those who love them most. That’s the takeaway from Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “After the Storm,” a painstakingly real rumination on lost opportunities and regret. Earth shattering, no. But it will almost certainly shatter your heart with its absorbing tale about a family – and particularly a man – that just can’t catch a break. Much of it is of their own doing. Yet Kore-eda’s subtle gem says much about the destruction of the middle class the world over. Yes, it’s set on the outskirts of Tokyo, but it’s one of the most honest, relatable films you’ll see – even though the entire story is built on lies, most of them told by Kore-eda’s muse, Hiroshi Abe. As Ryota, a blocked writer with an ex-wife (Yoko Maki) fed up with his repeated failures to fork over child support for their preteen son (Taiyo Yoshizawa), Abe is the type of selfish, irresponsible adult Hollywood likes to fit into a neat, little box. But the lanky, ruggedly handsome Abe (a sort of Japanese David Strathairn-Robert Mitchum hybrid) is having none of that in rendering Ryota as an intriguingly complex scamp who just can’t seem to get out of his own way.

In his youth, he wrote an award-winning novel; the proceeds of which he frittered away betting on lottery tickets and dog races – never winning, always losing. And his gambling addiction has cost him much more than just money and family. It’s also robbed him of his dignity and integrity. So why is it so impossible to dislike Ryota? Ah, there’s the beauty of Kore-eda’s sneaky-smart script, which follows Ryota’s misguided attempt to reunite his broken family by using an approaching typhoon as a gambit to get his ex and their son to converge on his elderly mother’s cramped apartment while they ride out the storm.

Whether Ryota is successful or not really isn’t the point. Kore-eda is obsessed with something much more profound – like why it is life never turns out like we planned. It’s an existential question we’ve all pondered at one time or another, and it’s what makes “After the Storm” feel so achingly personable. And it’s not just Ryota doing the self-examining. So too are his mother (a sensational Kirin Kiki) and ex-wife, Kyoko, eager to move forward with her new boyfriend – if only her son, Shingo, didn’t loathe the condescending prig.

When Kore-eda finally squeezes Kyoko, Shingo and Ryota into Mom’s flat, the story turns gripping. But to get there, Kore-eda takes his sweet time setting the stage, mostly by tailing Ryota, as he exploits every cockeyed scheme to both extort cash to feed his gambling habit and stealthily stalk Kyoko. It’s sad to watch, but “After the Storm” is not without generous amounts of affecting humor, much of it between Ryota and his fellow private-eyes at the agency where he claims to be doing research for his next book. But the movie is at its funniest when Ryota, a guy struggling to fit in, pays a pre-storm visit to his Mom, constantly contorting his 6-foot-2 frame to maneuver through her diminutive apartment, where every doorway forces him to duck, and every chair and table seems better suited to a child.

Later, they share what proves to be a very moving encounter in which each confesses their most bitter disappointments: she over her recently deceased husband, and Ryota with himself. It’s during this back and forth that Mom sums up the whole movie by asking, “Why is it that men can’t love the present?” Meaning: Why do they keep chasing whatever they’ve lost; or keep dreaming beyond their reach? It’s the million-dollar question that one little movie couldn’t hope to fully answer. But it’s one that “After the Storm” deftly uses to stir a tempest of emotion, as it washes over you like a gentle rain. AFTER THE STORM (Not rated.) Cast: Hiroshi Abe, Yoko Maki, Kirin Kiki and Taiyo Yoshizawa. In Japanese with English subtitles. Grade: B+